Elizabeth Milbank Anderson, Public Health Activist

Elizabeth Milbank Anderson, Public Health Activist

While Elizabeth Anderson was living in New York, she noted the deplorable conditions around the state and sought to improve them with her and her husband’s wealth. In 1913 she established the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, which would later become the Community Service Society of New York, and it funded many improvements for public schools such as drinking fountains, school lunches, medical inspections, and ventilation. For six years she was the largest donor to what is now known as Mental Health America which helps war veterans with shell-shock. She was also the largest donator, until her death, to Barnard College and was on its board of trustees. In addition, she gave the same amount of money, $100, 000 dollars, to Lillian Wald's Henry Street Settlement and to the Harlem Office of the Legal Aid Society, the latter which she helped fund.

Milbank Memorial Fund

Before 1921

A portrait of Elizabeth Milbank Anderson, an activist for improving public health and a philanthropist. Source: History. (n.d.). Milbank Memorial Fund. Retrieved Nov 1, 2012, from http://bit.ly/WbiazQ

Link: Milbank Memorial Fund 

Milbank Memorial Fund

Milbank Memorial Fund

Milbank Memorial Fund

Medium: Photograph

English

Figures

Women

Historic